A power of attorney is a legal document you can use to appoint another person to act on your behalf and make decisions about your property and your health care. The person who appoints is called the principal, and the person who acts on the principal’s behalf is called the agent. When you appoint an agent, the agent’s actions on your behalf are legally binding, just as if you had done the actions.
You can vary the document to suit several needs. You can make it durable, which means it will remain in force if you become legally incompetent and can no longer make decisions regarding your financial and healthcare affairs. You can also write the power of attorney to be general, meaning the agent will have sweeping authority over your assets, or limited, meaning the agent will only have a specific power or combination of powers. If the principal or agent would like to more about their rights they may view the Missouri Laws (Adobe PDF).
Sources
- HIPAA Privacy Authorization Form – http://www.mobar.org/uploadedFiles/Home/Publications/Legal_Resources/Durable_Power_of_Attorney/final-hipaa-fillable.pdf
- Tax (Form 2827) – http://dor.mo.gov/forms/2827.pdf
- Vehicle POA – http://dor.mo.gov/forms/4054.pdf